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In recent years, the More-Electric Aircraft (MEA) concept has undergone significant development and refinement, striving towards the attainment of reductions in noise and CO2 emissions, increased power transmission efficiency and improved reliability under a range of flight scenarios. The More-Electric Engine (MEE) is increasingly being seen as a key complementary system to the MEA. With this concept, conventional engine auxiliary systems (i.e. fuel pumps, oil pumps, actuators) will be replaced by electrically-driven equivalents, providing even greater scope for the combined aircraft and engine electrical power system optimisation and management. This concept, coupled with extraction of electrical power from multiple engine spools also has the potential to deliver significant fuel burn savings. To date, single or dual channel electrical power generation and distribution systems have been used in engines and aircrafts.

There is a well-recognised need for robust simulation tools to support the design and evaluation of future More-Electric Engine and Aircraft (MEE/MEA) design concepts. Design options for these systems are increasingly complex, and normally include multiple power electronics converter topologies and machine drive units. In order to identify the most promising set of system configurations, a large number of technology variants need to be rapidly evaluated. This paper will describe a method of MEE/MEA system design with the use of a newly developed transient modeling, simulation and testing tool aimed at accelerating the identification process of optimal components, testing novel technologies and finding key solutions at an early development stage. The developed tool is a Matlab/Simulink library consisting of functional sub-system units, which can be rapidly integrated to build complex system architecture models.

The increasing electrical demand in commercial and military aircraft justifies a growing need for higher voltage DC primary distribution systems. A DC system offers reduced power losses and space savings, which is of major importance for aircraft manufacturers. At present, challenges associated with DC systems include reliable fast acting short circuit protection. Solid State Contactors (SSC) have gained wide acceptance in traditional 28 VDC secondary systems for DC fault interruption. However, the reliable operation at higher operating voltages and currents requires further technology maturation. This paper examines a supporting method to SSC for more reliable fault mitigation by investigating bidirectional AC/DC converter topology with DC fault current blocking capability. Replacement of semiconductor switches with full bridge cells allows instant reversal of voltage polarities to limit rapid capacitor discharge and machine inductive currents.